[Lefty]

A general question for those who wear both a parachutes and a life jacket?

Clearly if you had an airframe malfunction or breakup - you would take to the chute.
But, if the airframe was ok, would you prefer to attempt to ditch the aircraft in the sea - or jump out and parachute into the sea?

[Brad2523]

I don't do many water crossings, but I think my preference would be to parachute into the sea - this would save any danger of being trapped should the ditching mean you end up the wrong way up in the drink (a thought that personally terrifies me).

[Wide-Body]

Whatever safety equipment is carried, participating in a dunking course (in water at sea temperature) will make you realise why some people carry so much safety equipment and how fragile that perspex and aluminium bubble is when the single engine stops.

That is why we have the immersion suits. It is important to get the exact size so worth a trip to the shop. As Peter S said the spray hood on the LJ is essential.

We probably go over the top on safety and will trip up getting out of the ac.

Pay your money take you choice.

[Wide-Body]

A general question for those who wear both a parachutes and a life jacket?

Clearly if you had an airframe malfunction or breakup - you would take to the chute.
But, if the airframe was ok, would you prefer to attempt to ditch the aircraft in the sea - or jump out and parachute into the sea?

Ditch first.

Although we don’t have the parachute requirement so much now the Yak has gone. The chute was there because we did a lot of Aeros and formation hence a greater risk of airframe damage.

Hitting water on a chute is hard. As the rig is not designed to be quick released the is a danger of dragging. Etc etc

We looked at a lot of scenarios and took a lot of instruction and advice. The result was ditch first.

Mind you ditching in an RV8 is not something I fancy either.

These are personal musings only. There are folks out there with much more experience than myself.

[ChampChump]

What's wrong with a bottle of Talisker..... ?

You ditch, you die - that's what I tell all the cabin crew on SEP days

But despite your denials, you are Douglas and would have a devilishly cunning scheme. And I wouldn't drink the Talisker if you've been near it.